Zip maker responds to critics
LOS ANGELES — Over the weekend, Ric Militi caused a huge stir when he said Donald Trump would win the presidency based on how folks were responding to his Zip question-answer smartphone app.
The findings on his app are totally different from what most polls show, with Hillary Clinton clearly on track to win the election.
The USA TODAY article produced nearly 19,000 Facebook shares and 700 comments, which can be summed up this way.
App maker: Trump will win election
— The Zip app is skewed to conservatives, thus his findings.
— Zip is like the comments section of Facebook and YouTube: Geared to trolls, to be provocative.
Not true, says Militi. What is true is that rabid Trump fans have taken to his app in a big way, supporters of Hillary Clinton have not. “Zip is completely neutral on all fronts,” he says.
“We can clearly see it has appealed more to the conservative base, but we can't control that, it happened organically and this is the base that has adopted us thus far,” he says.
Zip’s idea is to use the power of the mobile user base as an alternative to opinion polls that garner responses on landlines, cell phones and answering questions on websites.
The app is designed to let folks answer questions anonymously, without having to deal with the poll taker, which allows people to answer more freely, says Militi.
So if you’re shy about telling a pollster that you plan on voting for Trump, no such issues with Zip. Just click yes.
Some of the questions posed Monday:
— ”Who is going to win the presidential election?
90% Trump
10% Clinton
(The Upshot column in the New York Times Monday gave Clinton an 88% chance of winning in November. The Realclearpolitics average of polls gives Clinton a 47.8%-41% edge over Trump.)
— ”Are the polls for Trump and Clinton rigged?
84% yes
16% no
— ”Are more people who use Zip conservative or independent?
69% conservative
31% independent
Militi based his projection on our #TalkingTech podcast that Trump would win, on the “passionate” and overwhelming response from users on his app, which he says averaged 100,000 answers to questions daily.
Militi says he has “hundreds of thousands,” of users, and they were obtained by advertising on Facebook in all 50 states.
Many of our comments said the Zip app questions are written in a way to garner conservative responses, but Militi says 99% of the questions are written by users.
“We absolutely didn’t do anything intentional to skew it,” he says. “The Trump supporters seem to more motivated and passionate about it.”
When folks sign up for the app, they reveal age, date of birth and geographic location. What Zip doesn’t get, unlike traditional polls, is demographic, income and education information. Users can only answer questions once.
Zip is based in San Diego, a unit of Crazy Raccoons, a tech “think tank” aimed at “providing simple solutions to complex problems,” he says.
He also runs Innovision Marketing Group, an ad agency that does work for a local area casino and shopping center.
His agency has been roasted with poor reviews on the Glassdoor recruiting website, which rates working conditions by employees. Like Zip, responses are anonymous. One worker said Militi was “egotistical and abusive and a bit paranoid too.”
On Glassdoor, Militi said most of the negative reviews were fake. And “from the same person using different computers. One very angry, negative person that cannot understand the ethics it takes to succeed in life. One who attacks everyone, not just me.”
According to Militi’s LinkedIn profile, he’s worked in advertising since 1990, with The Ad Group, which represented companies such as Universal CityWalk, Warner/Chappell Music, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
He became vice-president of marketing for the Valley View Casino (in the inland San Diego area, near Escondido) in 2004 and then launched InnoVision in 2012, with Valley View as his first client.
Militi initially saw the app as a “fun” way to talk dating and clothing tips, but it got discovered by politicos. Not that he’s complaining. He loves the attention.
But, he insists, “We do not have a political agenda or any agenda other than to provide a free platform that's fun and informative to anyone that wants it, and of course to be a successful company.”
Militi says he hopes the new exposure to his app brings on those with opposing viewpoints.
“We are absolutely the facilitator of public opinion and I say to every Democrat if you don't like the results we're posting be heard," he says. "Get on the app and vote.”
Follow USA TODAY tech columnist and #TalkingTech host Jefferson Graham on Twitter, @jeffersongraham and listen to the podcast daily on iTunes and Stitcher.